Houthoff Buruma - The Game

As one of the top law firms in the Netherlands, Houthoff Buruma continuously competes to attract the most talented law graduates. Top notch lawyers distinguish themselves not only by professional qualities, but also through creativity, solution mindedness, stress resistance and social skills. However, these qualities are seldom addressed with traditional selection methods.
That's why Ranj and Houthoff Buruma co-created a ground-breaking recruitment and selection tool for Houthoff Buruma. A game that has students engage with a realistic legal case, while the company can observe their pursuits. This production contributes to the modern, innovative image of Houthoff Buruma. The game made a significant contribution to the firm's election as Benelux Law Firm of the Year in 2010.

Recruitment game

Ranj and Houthoff Buruma created a recruitment game in which participants can discover and experience legal practice from within. During an office visit, students are challenged to resolve a case study within 1.5 hours, inside a rich multimedia setting. They work together in teams but are also in competition with rivals, which stimulates their motivation.
Each team works for Chinese Mining & Marine, a Chinese state-owned company. They assist in the take-over of the small Dutch offshore company, 't Hoen. This family business owns innovative technology that is essential for a prestigious Chinese offshore project to succeed.

Take-over strategy

Using various media, teams discover fragmentary information about the interests and motives of different stakeholders, with which they can develop a successful acquisition strategy. Interviews with different game characters confront the teams with the human aspects of the case. The international context of the take-over demands political insight. The pressure increases because there are more issues than can be solved in limited time. The boundary between fiction and reality is intentionally blurred, continuously challenging the cognitive and analytic abilities of the students.
After solving the case, a plenary session takes place. In this final round, the teams' solutions are compared and discussed. Subsequently, the winning team is announced.